CD Video

CD Video was a brand name used by Sony and Philips to describe a class of optical discs carrying both audio and video content. It encompasses three distinct physical formats:

• A single-sided 120mm (CD sized) disc containing up to 20 minutes of CD-format audio and up to 5 minutes of Laserdisc-format analog video with PCM digital audio;
• A double-sided 200mm ("eight-inch") disc containing up to 40 minutes of Laserdisc-format analog video with PCM digital audio (up to 20 minutes per side);
• A double-sided 300mm ("twelve-inch") disc containing up to 120 minutes of Laserdisc-format analog video with PCM digital audio (up to 60 minutes per side).

Of the three, only the first could be considered a completely new format; the latter two are just rebrandings of existing Laserdisc formats.

The audio content on a 120mm CD Video disc can be played on any CD player; the video content requires a Laserdisc player capable of handling the smaller-format discs. We do not know of any CD-sized players that allowed playback of the Laserdisc-format video. The Laserdisc portion of a 120mm CD Video disc cannot be read by a computer CD-ROM drive.

History

CD-Video was first demonstrated at a March 18th, 1987 event held by Philips in Amsterdam. Initial pressings of the 120mm format -- including NTSC-format discs for US release -- were manufactured at PDO Blackburn, as the facility was originally opened in 1980 as a LaserDisc manufacturer.

See Also

• Collecting CD Videos, CDVs, CD-Video Discs -- Collector's site with a list of NTSC-format 120mm releases.